On
16 October 1958, a former beauty queen and a former Army officer
sat down to introduce the first edition of a program that for
over 40 years has been compulsive viewing for any child wanting
to learn about life in other countries, about caring for pets or
how to make a fully operational Centurion tank out of detergent
bottles, toilet rolls and sticky-backed plastic.

Christopher
Trace and Leila Williams

There
are a very select group of series that almost magically
transcend their original target audience and humble origins to
almost accidentally attain the coveted status of treasured and
much loved national institution. In the world of factual
children's programming that accolade has been bestowed upon one
show above all others, a show which, despite more than four
decades of continuous transmission, remains at its core as true
to the spirit of its original format as on the day of its first
broadcast. That programme is Blue Peter, and its story is
the stuff of television legend.

Presented
by 21 year-old Leila Williams, the previous years Miss Great
Britain, and 25 year old former army officer turned actor
Christopher Trace, who had been Charlton Heston's stand-in on
Ben Hur, Blue Peter began transmission on 16th October
1958 as a seven week experiment in the Children's Television
slot. With each show lasting just 15 minutes, and heralded by
its jaunty 'Barnacle Bill' theme tune, the programme mainly
concerned itself with items on train sets for boys and dolls for
girls, and stories of Packi, a little white elephant, told and
illustrated by Tony Hart. Due to ill health John Hunter Blair
had to retire after two years producing the show and died later
in his home whilst watching the show he had created. Leila
Williams left Blue Peter in 1962 and was briefly replaced
by Anita West, but it was with the arrival of the next female
presenter that the show really took off.

Long
time editor Biddy Baxter said of Valerie Singleton, "If the
studio roof collapsed in the middle of a live programme, Valerie
would have stepped out of the rubble and said: 'And now for
something quite different', without faltering." Another
addition to the show in 1962 (which by now had switched to a
thirty minute format), was that of the first Blue Peter
pet. Petra was a mongrel puppy who was introduced on the show in
a box wrapped in Christmas paper. Unfortunately, two days after
making its debut the dog died of distemper and the producers had
to look around for an exact replica as replacement, so as not to
upset the shows younger viewers. The switch was made and as far
as the public was concerned there was only ever one Petra. Petra
mark ll died in 1977 and the corporation commissioned a bronze
bust of the animal, which was placed at the entrance to the BBC.

Valerie
Singleton
John
Noakes

In
1965 Chris and Val were joined by 31 year-old Yorkshire born
actor John Noakes. Sporting a Beatle haircut, Noakes became an
instant hit with the public as he undertook a series of
daredevil stunts such as scaling Nelson's Column, and became the
first British civilian to make a 25,000ft free-fall by
parachute. John also had a pet of his own; a black and white
Collie by the name of Shep, the two became inseparable and
John's good humoured admonition, "Get down, Shep",
became a nation-wide catch phrase, as indeed did the famous
"Here's one I made earlier", when referring to one of
the many models that the presenters have shown the public how to
make out of nothing more than plastic bottles, old toilet rolls,
wire coat hangers and sticky-back plastic.

Christopher
Trace left the show in 1967 to be replaced by former Doctor
Who actor Peter Purves, and the show entered, arguably, its
golden and most fondly remembered era. Shown twice a week
(Monday and Thursday) its trademarks have left an indelible mark
on an entire generation of children, each of whom would kill for
a coveted Blue Peter Badge, awarded for contributors to
the show. The Blue Peter appeals have passed into
television legend. Raising funds for national and international
causes but without asking for money, Blue Peter has collected
hundreds of toys for underprivileged children (1962), seven and
a half tons of silver paper to buy two guide dogs for the blind
(1964), 240,000 paperback books which bought four lifeboats
(1967), 2,000,000 parcels of wool and cotton which bought three
hospital trucks, six emergency vehicles and medical equipment
for child victims of war in Biafra (1969), 40,000,000 aluminium
cans which bought life support machines for sixty five hospitals
(1989), and the Great Bring and Buy sale which raised over £6,000,000
for Romanian orphanages (1990). These are just examples of the
numerous charitable causes that the show has come to the aid of.

In
1971 Blue Peter won the royal seal of approval when
Valerie Singleton was allowed to accompany HRH Princess Anne
(now the Princess Royal) on safari to Kenya, and Prince's Edward
and Andrew popped into the studio to meet a lion cub. The show
has not been without its problems, although thankfully most of
them have been comical misadventures in front of the camera (the
show is still transmitted live) like the time when Lulu, a young
Sri-Lankan elephant from Chessington Zoo came to the studio with
her keeper, Alec, and 'relieved' herself all over the studio
floor, dragging the hapless zookeeper straight through the
middle of it.

Although
Biddy Baxter retired in 1988 the show is still going strong, a
third weekly programme was added in 1995 and Liz Barker has
joined as the 28th Blue Peter presenter, following such
household names as Lesley Judd, Sarah Greene, John Lesley,
Anthea Turner and Katy Hill, to name but a few.

The
stunning, winning, simplicity of the Blue Peter format
shows no sign of flagging, even as the show sails confidently
into this, the beginning of a new millennium, the secret of Blue
Peter's innate magic is perhaps impossible to quantify, and
perhaps shouldn't even be questioned. When all is said and done,
perhaps the best and only correct answer to the show's
juggernaut success story is that the people behind it throughout
the years genuinely cared. That its devoted audience continue to
genuinely care is both a foregone and heartening fact.

Blue
Peter
is one of British television's longest running programmes,
regularly reaching 5-6 million children and teenagers. It takes
its name from the blue and white flag hoisted by a ship leaving
port on a voyage. The originator of the programme wanted this to
suggest the voyage of discovery that it would provide for its
young viewers. The programming has a magazine format that
involves a combination of studio presentation, interview, and
demonstration with additional film report items. It is
transmitted live from the BBC's Television Centre after hectic
rehearsal. The programme was launched with its catchy
"Barnacle Bill" signature tune in 1958 as a
fifteen-minute slot, involving two presenters, described by
Barnes and Baxter as "Chris Trace playing with trains and
Lelia Williams playing with dolls." It became a
twice-weekly, 30-minute programme in 1963. A third presenter was
later introduced and its Monday/Thursday slots were changed to
thrice weekly transmission (Monday/Wednesday/Friday) in 1965. Blue
Peter runs for a 40-week season from autumn to early summer
with a ten-week break in which special overseas items are
filmed. The programme is broadcast between 17:05 and 17:35
hours, a bridging slot taking teenagers into an Australian soap
opera and into "adult" early evening news. it has won
over twenty major television awards including BAFTA, The Sun
Television, and the National Viewers and Listeners Association
for excellence in children's programming.

It
is successful as a programme because it has remained true to the
basic format of its original creator, John Hunter Blair, but has
accommodated itself to the social change that has taken place
over two generations of television viewing. Editorial continuity
was achieved by the singular influence of long-standing editor
Biddy Baxter, who worked on Blue Peter between 1962 and
1988. Baxter was a liberal, inventive, but demanding leader of
the programme team with a very shrewd sense of how the
developing medium could best be harnessed for a young audience.
In the best tradition of British public service broadcasting, Blue
Peter aims to inform, educate, and stimulate its target
viewers with entertaining content and it remains one TV
programme that parents encourage their children to watch.

In
the 1960s many of the programme's innovations were quickly
imitated by rivals or adapted in later programmes such as ITV'sMagpie,
aired from 1968 to 1980. In 1965, for instance, Blue Peter introduced
a puppy to the programme and then asked its viewers to send in
suggestions for its name. Petra became the nation's first TV
pet. Phenomenally popular, other pets, including cats and
tortoises, were added to the programme so that respect for
animals and pet care tips could be passed on. The programme
actively encouraged the participation of its viewers by
instituting a Blue Peter badge scheme (awarded for
appearances on the programme or special achievements), regular
competitions and an annual Christmas Appeal to raise money for
charity. The studio items very often involve presenters trying
new hobbies, cooking, making home-made toys from household
rubbish (washing-up liquid bottles, wire coat-hangers, and
"sticky-backed plastic" being favoured materials) or
bringing talented youngsters into the studio to make their
achievements more widely known.

The
overall ethos of the programme encourages children by the
example of the adult presenters to "have a go", to try
something new and be inquisitive about the world around them. Blue
Peter presenters with strong personalities involved in
unforgettable exploits have impressed themselves on the popular
memory of television viewers. The phrases of their scripted
cookery demonstrations ("here's one I made earlier")
and idiosyncratic expressions ("get down, Shep!") have
become clichés and are parodied in pop songs. The show remains
"live" which means that unplanned incidents occur,
much to the delight of the viewers. One such moment has gone
down in British television lore. It involved a baby elephant
("Lulu") departing from the script by defecating in
the studio and running amok with its elderly zoo keeper as the
transmission came to a close.

Today's
presenters follow in a long line of enthusiastic personalities
who have played no small part in shaping the views of
generations of viewers. Critics of the programme suggest that
Blue Peter's format, content and presentation epitomise a
"safe" agenda of middle-class attitudes, is
patronising towards young people, and replicates a dominant
ideology. The programme's own audience research would suggest
that on the whole its target audience do not feel patronised.
Given the centrality of Blue Peter to its scheduling
area, it is not surprising that it tends to reflect the values
and aspirations of the institution from which it originates. It
is more accurate to see Blue Peter as a barometer of
social values and cultural change in Britain over the extended
period of its existence.

Like
all successful programmes Blue Peter has had to deal with
change and be flexible to a degree, but this has been uneven.
Lewis Bronze, who succeeded Baxter in 1988, introduced Diane-Louisi
Jordan, a Black presenter in 1990. The editorial team was
quietly accepting and supportive of the unmarried status of
Janet Ellis, who became pregnant, but shaken to find out that
one of its ex-presenters, Michael Sundin, turned out to be gay.
The significance of Blue Peter within British television
history resides in its longevity, continued popularity, and
institutional centrality. Within Children's BBC, Blue Peter
is still, in the words of Anna Home, Head of Children's
Television, "very deliberately chosen as one of the
foundation stones upon which the rest of the schedule can be
built."

BLUE
PETER SUMMARY

Blue
Peter
is a popular, long-running BBCtelevision
programme for children. It is named after the flag
hoisted by ships in port when they are ready to sail.

The
theme tune, in recognition of the origin of the title, is a sea
shanty called Barnacle Bill, and the programme's
motif is a stylised sailing ship, based on an original design by
Tony
Hart.

The
programme, edited for many years by Biddy
Baxter, was first shown in October
16, 1958,
the original presenters being Christopher
Trace and Leila
Williams. The format consisted mainly of the two presenters
demonstrating how to make toys and useful household objects,
with the male presenter concentrating on traditional
"boys'" toys such as model aeroplanes, and the female
restricting herself to domestic tasks, such as cookery.

Over
the years the programme changed to reflect the times. Originally
it was a 15-minute weekly programme; currently it is 25 minutes
and is shown three times a week. New presenters came and went,
the best known being the 1960s
team of Valerie
Singleton, John
Noakes and Peter
Purves. Enduring features of the programme include the
annual charity appeal, which involves young viewers by asking
them to collect items that can be recycled or sold to raise
money for the chosen cause. The team of presenters keeps various
pets, the first of which was a dog named Petra;
subsequent famous pets include Shep
and George
the tortoise.

Children
(and occasionally adults) who appear on the show or achieve
something notable may be awarded the coveted Blue
Peter badge. See below for details.

In
a list of the 100
Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British
Film Institute in 2000,
voted for by industry professionals, Blue Peter was
placed 6th.